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Laughter Therapy

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Last Saturday night, my dear friend, Kelly (far right), organized a dinner out with some friends.   Many of them are genetic counselors that I�ve known for years.      I was hesitant to go out that night because it was only the second day after starting my new oral chemotherapy and I had spent most of that day fighting off nausea and vomiting.   At the restaurant, I still felt like crap.   Although it was great too see everyone as they arrived and the placed smelled amazing, I knew that I couldn�t order any food. Then something magical happened.   As my friends and I talked and laughed, I realized that I was feeling less crappy.   We talked and laughed some more, and I decided to order a side of rice.   The more we talked and laughed, the hungrier I got.   I ordered an entr�e! I had a wonderful night catching up with everyone and am reminded how therapeutic laughter is. Thank you to everyone who came, and to those who weren�t able...
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A Day with Lung Cancer Experts

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      Back in June, lung cancer patient advocate extraordinaire, CraiginPA (his online handle), let me know about a lung cancer education conference for patients in Boston on September 6th.  The focus of the conference..."acquired resistance,"  a subject near and dear to my heart lungs. ("Acquired [drug] resistance" occurs when a chemotherapy no longer works to control cancer growth, after it has worked for a while.)  With my oral chemo, Xalkori, there seems to be some variability in how well it works, how long it works and which side effects users experience.  However, the common fact for all patients on Xalkori is that it won't work forever. Some patients see benefits from it for only a few months while others have been successfully treated with it for a few years.  Why Xalkori works longer for some patients and not for others is unknown.  We know, from clinical trials, that when Xalkori is stopped, the cancer tends to come back ...
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Reading Between the Lines

     Earlier this week I had my monthly appointment with my oncologist, Dr. O.  Since things are going well for me, the appointments over the past several months haven't been very news worthy.  At this appointment, however, I told Dr. O. about my mom's recent stroke.  All of her testing results are telling my mom's doctors that her elevated cholesterol level is likely the greatest contributor to her event.  I have the same lipid profile as my mom and up until I was diagnosed with cancer, had been taking a cholesterol lowering medication, a "statin," for over 20 years.         Cholesterol is a fat, a lipid, manufactured in our bodies.  It's necessary for normal body functioning, such as cell membrane growth and maintenance, and it plays an important role in the manufacturing of hormones.  Most of the non-dietary cholesterol in our body is made in our liver.  Most cholesterol lowering medications wor...
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